MATCHESFASHION.COM

If one designer truly embodies the spirit of their label, it’s Mary Katrantzou. Despite the fact she dresses almost exclusively in black, the high-impact, maximalist aesthetic of her fun-loving brand is indicative of the infectious laughter and palpable joie de vivre she is renowned for.

It’s little wonder Katrantzou has a sunny disposition – having launched her eponymous label only six years ago, the Athens-born designer is now at the helm of one of London’s fastest rising and most successful brands. With a 60-strong team and a collaboration with Adidas Originals under her belt (following in the footsteps of design greats Yohji Yamamoto and Raf Simons), last month Katrantzou also scooped the coveted British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund – a £200,000 award – signalling further expansion on the horizon.

Great designing is about being fearless, and Katrantzou’s intrepid nature was clear from an early age – at 19, she left Greece against her father’s wishes in pursuit of love in London. With no previous fashion experience, she enrolled in a textile course at Central Saint Martins and studied fashion history until she felt confident in class. Undeterred by minimalism gaining traction in the fashion industry, she blindly built her reputation on engineering hyper-real digital prints, with each collection more creatively enthralling and pioneering than the last. Then came her AW14 collection with a curveball: there was no print whatsoever. ‘When more women become aware of your brand and you evolve as a designer, you want to diversify that code and expand your vocabulary to touch different areas,’ she says. ‘I made a conscious decision to strip print off the catwalk as I wanted the focus to be elsewhere.’ Despite this volte-face, Katrantzou is resolutely confident about her change in direction, ‘It was great to feel liberated in that way. We did so much with lace, embroidery and the fabrics we created – it’s fun to move on from what I am known for and to complete a full language.’